


Immutatio

by Miasmajesty1



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, M/M, Timeline Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-23
Updated: 2015-09-25
Packaged: 2018-04-23 01:23:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4857908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miasmajesty1/pseuds/Miasmajesty1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Parting of the Ways, Nine doesn't regenerate and Jack stays with Team TARDIS. They return to earth and find that there's no rest to be found there.<br/>At the same time, Ten and the Master are dealing with their own issues. Eventually the two teams have to work together to stop a disaster and shenanigans ensue.<br/>(ON HIATUS)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Some context: For Team TARDIS this is directly after the Parting of the Ways. For TenSimm this is after an ambiguous amount of time following their team up post-End of Time pt.2. In this AU, the Master didn't get thrown back into the Time War and decided to take up the Doctor's offer of travelling together after all.

"We've been tracking this anomaly for ages and your stupid TARDIS hasn't given us anything conclusive yet," the Master whined as he paced around the console. "What makes you think this time it'll be different?" he added, coming to a stop next to the Doctor.  
"Don't call her stupid," the Doctor said without looking up from where he was leant across the console. Sonic screwdriver firmly between his teeth, he held one of the console's dials down with one hand and grabbed the screen with another, frantically tapping through different measurements in an attempt to hone in on their target. The Master had neglected to help him in this regard, so it was all very awkward. He felt awfully prone sprawled like this with the Master watching him only inches away.  
"You're really not going to help?" he asked, trying to turn his head to glance at his companion but only succeeding in hurting his neck.  
"Nope," the Master said evenly. "Admit your TARDIS is a genuine piece of junk and I might," he added, tapping the back of the Doctor's calf with his foot. His leg twitched and slammed into the cold metal of the console's base. He hissed in pain and bit back a particularly vulgar curse. Finding no reply, the Master stalked off, amusing himself by unscrewing the seats enough that they'd look like they were stable, but would actually break as soon as someone sat on them.  
"I think it'll be different because we actually know what we're looking for now," the Doctor conceded after a rather considerable length of silence.  
"A time anomaly, yeah," the Master said, having already unscrewed the seats and now began circling the console again. "It doesn't really narrow it down," the Master continued. He watched as the Doctor left the dial alone and instead reached for something that looked suspiciously like part of a telephone. The Master wondered with detached amusement if the Doctor just stuck things on his TARDIS until she integrated them. Deciding he was now bored enough to actually help, the Master leant over and grabbed the screen, swinging it around to face him.  
"Ugh, Earth," he said, almost involuntarily. The Doctor frowned at him.  
"Don't 'ugh' Earth," he reprimanded.  
"I'm so done with it," the Master said, ignoring the Doctor's continued frowning. "So last season," he muttered. "And there's nothing conclusive, so you're basically wrong again," he sighed, swinging the console back round with a shove. The Doctor moved out of the way before it smacked him in the head. The Master pouted in disappointment.  
"We'll just have to look around," the Doctor decided, disentangling himself with the TARDIS and standing up straight. The Master groaned.  
"I don't want to mingle," he complained.  
"Sure you do," the Doctor said with a bright grin. The Master practically radiated contempt.  
"It'll be fun! A bit of sleuth work, that's always fun," the Doctor continued, grabbing his overcoat.  
"Not if I get recognised it won't," the Master said, crossing his arms over his chest as the Doctor swept back up to the console.  
"It's been ages since that whole.." the Doctor trailed off.  
"Masterpiece?" the Master offered, grinning in achievement at the pun.  
"Debacle," the Doctor said.  
"Owch," the Master said.  
"No one will recognised you and it's not a good enough excuse. I'm not about to leave you in here on your own," the Doctor continued.  
"But bringing me out into the civilisation I took great enjoyment in destroying is a-okay," the Master pointed out.  
"You can't do any destroying with me around," the Doctor argued, coming to face the Master.  
"You never know," the Master said, keeping eye contact. The Doctor didn't reply but eventually the Master let out a dramatic sigh.  
"Fine," he said, smoothing down his suit's sleeves and sweeping away non-existent dust. "Let's go and snoop," he said, prowling out in front of the Doctor and throwing the TARDIS doors open.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nine and co. arrive on Earth.

The Doctor really hadn't expected them to come out of this. Rose absorbing the Time Vortex, Jack dying then un-dying, the fact that he himself had somehow come out of this mostly unscathed. The landing was a bit shaky, but he managed to put the TARDIS down without squashing anyone, so that was a start.   
"Take a look outside and we'll be in Barcelona, Barcelona!" the Doctor proclaimed with a grandiose gesture. Jack raised his eyebrows. "A well deserved break after.. that," the Doctor added. None of them could really believe that everyone was okay now. A lot of people had died, but the Daleks were gone for good now. Probably. Rose smiled at the both of them.  
"You first," she said to Jack. "Go find us a nice sunbed," she added, nudging him with her elbow. Needing no one encouragement, Jack opened the TARDIS doors and stepped outside. It was awfully cold for Barcelona.  
"This definitely isn't Barcelona," Jack called from outside the TARDIS. Rose ran down to join him at the doors, swinging out into the rather stale air.  
"We're at the estate," she said with a frown.   
"That's weird," the Doctor said, pulling the TARDIS screen round to him. "I put the coordinates for Barcelona in.." he added hesitantly.  
"Did you put the coordinates for Barcelona, Earth?" Jack asked. "We could just be a bit off," he added.  
"No, definitely Barcelona the planet," the Doctor said, tapping on the screen. "Maybe the TARDIS wants us to be here?" he muttered. "Can't see why though, there's nothing out of the ordinary that I can see on the sensors," he mused.  
"Trouble?" Rose asked, scanning the estate.  
"If we're here we could go see your family though," Jack said with a smile.  
"Yeah, I should tell them that we're all okay," Rose said, feeling slightly guilty she hadn't thought of that first.  
"You two go do that, I'll see if I can work out why we're off target," the Doctor called. "And no, I won't go anywhere," he added, looking around the console at Rose and Jack, still leaning out of the doors. "Now shoo," he said, waving them away.  
"Nice to be wanted," Jack laughed. He offered Rose his arm which she graciously accepted and the two walked off. When the TARDIS doors shut, the Doctor leant closer to the console screen. He'd lied to them, just a little bit. There was definitely something off. It was interfering with the controls and had danger written all over it. Intrigued, the Doctor locked the TARDIS in place and started in investigate.  
"No rest of the wicked," he said to the empty room. The TARDIS hummed in response.


	3. Chapter 3

As snooping went, this had been entirely too successful. Mostly because it was glaringly obvious. Checking in on UNIT through their radio channels- the Master had pointed out how absurd it was that they still used radios before the Doctor shushed him- made it clear that something was wrong. That was, there was nothing wrong. There was never nothing wrong. So, they'd gone to the newest UNIT base- a helicarrier that the Master was very disappointed to find out was not the Valiant. They'd taken the TARDIS up there and had snuck around into the lower holds of the ship. The Doctor wondered what it was about them that made evil congregate like a sink-hole. He didn't make his thoughts known, lest the Master reminisce about ruling the earth. Truthfully, the Doctor itched being in here in the first place. It was far too similar to the Valiant, with the layout almost identical. Either way, in the lower holds of the ship, which seemed to be cordoned off to everyone, and when questioned no one knew they existed, was what they were looking for. It was a sight to behold. Hidden in the depths of UNIT's own jurisdiction was a conversion chamber. They couldn't get close enough to tell what it was converting, but people just kept filing in, eyes dead and completely silent for the hum of machinery and the terrible noises coming from it's heart. They'd come out of the elevator from the upper deck just above it and no one had noticed them yet. It was a risky post- not even close to hidden, but no one had deigned to look away from the conversion chamber yet.

"One thing to be admired about the lesser species; they love to go to their deaths," the Master observed. "Look at them all, flocking to the slaughter," he said, a slow grin working it's way onto his face.  
"They're being mind controlled," the Doctor pointed out evenly.  
"Of course, but you know it's not that easy. You can't push someone into doing something they wouldn't even think of," the Master said. "It has to be a thought that already exists in the darkest recesses of the mind. It's surprising what people are like deep inside, what they can be drawn to," he mused, still smiling wickedly.  
"Are you trying to argue that they want to be controlled?" the Doctor said, brow scrunched up.  
"Possibly. I'm saying that they're predisposed to die," the Master said. "Nature's way of cleaning up," he added.  
"Don't say that," the Doctor said, voice growing quiet with displeasure.  
"Or what? You're going to hit me with a rolled up newspaper like a bad dog? Please," the Master admonished. "You're only upset because you can see it too," he said, leaning in closer to the Doctor. "Don't pretend to be blind to it," he said.  
"Survival instinct is too strong," the Doctor dismissed. "You're just looking into it the wrong way," he concluded.  
"Sure," the Master said, still leaning in too close. The Doctor resisted shoving him over the balcony they were leant on.

"We have to stop it," the Doctor said, eyes following the monotonous stream of people move through the infernal equipment. It was hard to tell from far away if it had any indications of make- and he didn't want to risk getting his sonic screwdriver out and get them both killed by it's buzzing.  
"We?" the Master objected. "Excuse me if you've forgotten, but I'm evil. I don't help people," he said sulkily. The Doctor stopped, glancing at the Master, still too close for comfort.  
"You sound like you're trying to convince yourself," he said quietly.  
Now the Master resisted the urge of shoving him over the balcony.  
"Could be us again," the Master said, backing out of the Doctor's personal space and ignoring his last remark. He closed his eyes briefly, recalling the horrors of the Time War- that which he remembered anyway.  
"With conversion chambers?" the Doctor said, brow creased.  
"You saw what Rassilon did to make the Possibility engine," the Master said. "It wouldn't be the first time," he reasoned.  
"No, we'd know if it was them," the Doctor dismissed.  
"Would we?" the Master challenged. "You couldn't tell I was around for a year," he pointed out.  
The Doctor was silent as again he watched people walk through the mechanical nightmare. The whole thing was cast in blood red light, with contraptions of dark steel running across the walls, powering the conversion chamber. It was not unlike the aura of unease that the Paradox Machine had given off. Nearby, a transmat pad stood out, lighting up now and then with new subjects being picked up from around the world.   
"It's got to be large scale tampering for that," the Doctor said, nodding towards the transmat.  
"They're stupid, but not stupid enough to not notice when people go missing," the Master agreed. "They're using a worldwide psychic field to keep it under wraps," he mused, looking displeased at his ideas being used.  
"You don't have a monopoly on that you know," the Doctor said wrly.  
"No, but I should," the Master said with a sideways grin.  
"If we're here then the data should be easier to pick up," the Doctor said, turning on his heel to return to the upper levels of the helicarrier.  
The Master watched humanity walk to it's doom for a few minutes more before he joined him.


	4. Chapter 4

"Rose!" Jackie cried, throwing her arms around her daughter in a too tight embrace. Mickey hovered for a few seconds before joining in the hug.   
"Can I get it on this action?" Jack joked, leaning on the living room wall. Rose disentangled herself from the collection of arms around her.   
They'd barely gotten through the door before running directly into Jackie and Mickey. Mickey glanced behind them and found no leather coated alien trailing behind.  
"So is he..?" Micky asked, trailing off.  
"He's fine. Just, you know, doing TARDIS stuff," Rose said.  
"So what happened?" Jackie asked, concerned in her voice. Rose glanced at Jack, not really wanting to go into it.  
"We're fine and that's the important thing," Jack said, pushing away from the wall and joining Rose.   
"Hang on, is it Christmas?" Rose said, seeing the TV out of the corner of her eye.   
"Eve," Jackie corrected.  
"The one with the presents?" Jack asked. Rose wondered if he was playing her or not, but she couldn't read him enough to tell if he was serious or joking.  
"No presents for you," Mickey joked, punching Jack in the arm before skirting around the counter to put the kettle on.   
"Hey!" Jack protested. "I think I deserve some quality presents," he said.  
"There's a satsuma," Rose said, picking it up from the rather barren fruit bowl.  
"I'll pass," Jack with a wince.  
"I was going to make Christmas dinner," Jackie said, rounding the kitchen counter to grab her tea.  
"I for one am seriously hungry," Jack said warmly.  
"We'd have to convince the Doctor to join," Rose said, glancing out towards the door.  
"I'll make him myself," Jackie said, tone a little too serious. Rose worried for the Doctor's well being.

"That's.. weird," the Doctor said, using his palm to hold one dial down and watching the console screen with a keen interest. Across the screen, the TARDIS' readouts read just fine- which was the issue. They were set at perfect values and static. Trying to read out across Earth gave nothing out of place, reading out to space read nothing out of place. Someone was keeping a shroud over Earth and everything nearby, and it was enough to make the Doctor's blood run cold. After their previous encounter, he didn't want a repeat surprise performance. The logical part of his brain said no, it couldn't be the Daleks. They were good at rebuilding, sure, but so quickly? On the other hand..  
He stared at the readout. Logic said it couldn't be the Daleks. Fear said it was. But his gut said the weird readouts weren't the only thing amiss.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been musing over this idea for ages now and it's evolved quite a bit from when I first started writing it. I've got more written up already but the updating might be a bit all over the place due to irl commitments. But I will get to it so worry not!


End file.
